| Rolled
cabbage / grape leaves
1 head of cabbage
2 cups uncooked rice
1 small onion finely chopped
1 cup parsley finely chopped
Garlic- chopped and whole
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup dried mint or 1/2 cup fresh mint finely
chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
A heavy dutch oven (pot) with a tight fitting
top is used for cooking.
The cabbage leaves / grape leaves are blanched quickly in hot water
to make
them pliable. Allow to drain. Remove thick
part of vein with a knife.
Mix rice, onion, parsley, salt and pepper.
Place heaping tablespoon of mixture on thick
part of cabbage, roll
Place layer of cabbage / grape leave on bottom
of pot
Gently compact rolls when placing in pan,
alternating direction of layers,
place 1 table spoon or so of chopped garlic
betwen layers.
Mash mint, 4 cloves of garlic and 1 tsp of
salt, stir in lemon juice and pour over top.
Place a few layers of cabbage leaves over
top
Place a dish on top (do
this to hold cabbage rolls together)
Add enough water to cover rolls
Cover and cook over medium fire for 20-25
minuter, then simmer over low
flame for 15 minutes or until rice is cooked
After cooking and before serving, add a couple of more lemons
to the
cabbage rolls to brighten the flavor.
To serve, the pot is overturned on a plate.
Note - For some reason, the grape leaves were rolled with the edges
folded
over so that the finished product was about
4-5 inches long, while the edges
of the cabbages were not folded so that each
was 6-8 inches long.
Peppers, squash, egg plant stuffed with rice stewed in light tomato
Lebanses cooks will stuff pretty much
any vegetable that can be hollowed out (including
very hot peppers)
The same rice mixture used in the stuffed cabbage / grape leaves
is used to
stuff hollowed out squash, peppers and egg
plant and it is cooked similarly, except canned tomato is added to the cooking
liquid.
Tabbouli
Tabbouli uses bulger wheat that swells after
it is reconstituted, so a cup of
dry bulger makes a large container of tabbouli
If you wish, you can chop all vegetables
using a food processor, working in small
batches and short pulses to keep from over
processing. It is a lot less work
than chopping all this stuff, but surely
grandma would disapprove
1/2 cup dry bulger
2 - 3 large tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
3 bunches fresh parsley chopped
1 bunch green onions chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh mint chopped (less
if dried mint is used)
Lemon to taste (maybe 2-3 lemons)
The dry bulger is washed in a strainer, then dumped in a bowel and
the rest of the ingredients are
added. The mixture is placed in a refrigerator
for at least 1 hours to cool and to allow
the bulger to absorb the juices
from the vegetables and to swell. Add
salt and adjust lemon to taste.
Serve with lettuce leaves, eat by scooping tabbouli in a lettuce
leave and
rolling into a loose pouch.
Spinach and Rice
* Kale can be substituted for spinach
1 medium onion chopped
1 lb fresh spinich
2 cloves garlic
1 cup parsley finely chopped
2 tbl dried mint
Onion is cooked on low heat until transparent.
Just before the onion is finished cooking,
garlic is added and cooked for a
short period, then the mint
and spinach are added and cooked
until limp.
Add water, rice, salt and pepper - do not
stir
Cook over medium high heat until it boils,
then lower heat and simmer 15 minutes or so or until the rice is done.
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Roasted egg plant with tahini (Baba Ghannouj)
This is made pretty much like hummous (same ingredients) except
egg plant is
used that has been roasted over a flame (similar
to charring peppers) until the skin
is blackened and the egg plant collapses.
It can take 15 minutes or so to
do this so it is best to use a low flame
so that the eggplant collapses
before the skin is completely charred. After it cools, the skin is removed and it is mixed with tahini, lemon,
garlic, and salt.
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Flat bread with zahtar
* Zaatar is a spice blend comprised of sesame
seeds mixed with powdered sumac
and dried thyme. Zaatar can be found in
Middle Eastern markets.
Basic dough recipe
3 lb flour
1 tblsp salt
1 pkg dry yeast dissolved in warm water
1/4 cup oil
3 1/2 - 4 cups water
Mix ingredients, knead well. Form into 6" balls and dust lightly.
Place in
bowel and cover with plastic and let rise
until doubled. Flatten dough to pie crust thickenss
Form into round flat loaves.
Zaatar topping
1 Tbsp zahtar spice for each loaf
1/2 tsp sesame seed for each loaf
Brush the top of the bread loaves with olive oil and spread zahtar
topping evenly on bread. Bake on
a cookie sheet in a pre-heated oven at 400 for 20-30 mintues on lowest rack until browned.
Spinach pies
Make same dough used for zaatar, except roll into 2" balls
Spinach filling
1.5 - 2 lbs of fresh spinich
3 lemons
2 onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
Wash spinach and tear into 2" pieces, sprinkle with salt.
Squeeze and drain until all water is removed. Add remaining
ingredients and mix well.
Roll dough out like pie crust. Cut out 4" rounds. Place a heaping tabelspoon
of the filling on the rounds and close in shape of a triangle place some spinich mixture in center and
fold edges to make a sealed pouch.
Place on an oiled baking pan, brush tops
lightly with oil, bake at 375 until
lightly browned
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These recipes
are available at www.habeeb.com for your
enjoyment. If you use the recipes,
please give reference to habeeb.com as the
source. Thank you.
Bon Apetit, or as they say in Lebanon: Sahhtain (double your health)
Your Host
Habeeb
More Authentic Lebanese Recipes - several
pages.
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